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Brussels Sheraton hotel could go bankrupt this week
Belgium's largest hotel, the Sheraton on Brussels' Place Rogier, looks set to be declared bankrupt this week, according to RTBF.
Several managers at the 500-room hotel, who were seconded from Sheraton's parent company Marriott, resigned on Friday. The bankruptcy case could be heard by Brussels commercial court on Tuesday. Some 200 jobs are at risk.
In October, the hotel applied for protection from its creditors, often the last step before declaring bankruptcy.
A spokesperson said at the time that it had suffered falling visitor numbers after last November’s attacks in Paris and the March bombings in Brussels.
RTBF says there were other contributing factors - including three years of renovation works on Place Rogier - and a business disagreement between the Marriott group and hotel management.
The hotel was run as a franchise, paying an annual licence fee to the owners of the Sheraton brand, Marriott subsidiary Starwood Hotels and Resorts.
A message on the Sheraton Brussels website says: "The Sheraton Brussels Hotel will be leaving the Starwood system on 31 December 2016".
RTBF says that if the 30-storey hotel survives it will have to carry a different name. Staff are hopeful that the hotel can continue as a going concern, although a source familiar with the situation said major improvement works were needed on the building .
Photo: Brussels Hotel Association
Comments
As usual, a business has gone bust partly due to renovation works -- is it really necessary for 3 years to complete anything in this city? You never see anyone working on road worksites yet absolutely everywhere you look you see roadworks, tunnel works, roundabout works. The list goes on. Why can't these companies work 24 hours a day and over the weekend? The cost to the consumer in lost travel time and lost revenues to shopkeepers is over the top! Lack of overall city strategy, lack of oversight, etc.... contributes to Brussels being a mess. Everyone blames someone else. No one takes responsibility.
Actually, much more important as a cause to the bankruptcy is the fight between the franchisee and the Starwoods group.
The Thon hotel (in the same building as the Shreaton) is doing just fine.
You must be blind if you never see people working at the work sites. As for working 24 hours a day that would be an incredibly expensive idea and a noise impossibility to the people living close by.
As for everyone blaming everyone else, really? Can you supple a list of these many businesses that have fallen prey to renovation work?
There are a lot of major works going on right now, isn't it great that the Brussels economy is creating all this work?
I think Salsadancer has a valid point. Just to give you an example it took two years and a half to install ONE elevator ONE in the metro station I use everyday. In the same time the Burj Khalifa waas being built. 828 metres of skyscraper.
How long Place Rogier been a building site?